All the cars stopped in line simultaneously. Some behind, some in front like a grid forming. Rajeev and Suraj were smiling while others were staring at the cars trying to grasp the situation.
One by one, the car doors swung open in perfect sync. Dozens of men stepped out, all dressed in sharp black suits, each with neatly styled black hair—uniform, disciplined, and clearly not ordinary henchmen. From the foremost car, parked at the very center, two figures emerged—one from each side. The man from the front door stepped out with a calm smile, casually adjusting his suit jacket. On the other side, a towering figure exited with a large black leather bag which seemed to be quite heavy.
"Raghav, you wanna say something?" Param asked
Raghav answered
"It's...it's them." He swung his head to see the wide crowd
"All of them, they are all here."
"Who?" Param asked again
Raghav continued
"My uncles, all the cousins, second cousins, third cousins and their third cousins. All the men of Agar clan and their sons who had come of age, a total of 203 people are here right now."
Amayra was trying to understand the situation. She also noticed something unusual.
[The crowd of theme park and streets is all gone, I called the police so much earlier but there is still no sign of them. That means this whole situation is created by them, but I am sure me and Param being present here wasn't in their calculations.]
Raghav was confused but he knew that they all have hostility towards him.
The man on the front, Raghav's uncle Bhaskar said
"Raghav, ask your friend to release Rajeev."
Raghav looked at Param who was currently holding onto Rajeev.
"What if I don't, uncle?" He replied with confidence
Bhaskar smirked, his eyes glinting with cold amusement as he reached back toward the car. His hand disappeared inside for a moment—and when it returned, it wasn't empty.
Raghav and his friends froze, their hearts sinking.
Bhaskar dragged someone out of the vehicle, the person was also a black haired middle aged man like others but he was not wearing a black suit, even the only white checkered shirt he had was completely torn like it was ripped apart by some animal. His whole upper body was brutally injured and covered in blood, he could only keep his left eye open and his legs were limp to the point he couldn't even stand without support. After looking at this sight, Raghav's eyes were widened and his pupils constricted to the shock, his breathing was getting intense as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Pa..pa" he whispered in terror and shock
The injured person was Raghav's father, Mukesh.
Looking at Raghav's distorted expression, Bhaskar smiled
"This is one of the two gifts I brought you."
"Ragha-" Mukesh tried to say something to him but his throat betrayed him
Raghav's mind was going through a stroke, he couldn't even think straight anymore, he never anticipated that something like this would ever happen to him. In his whole life up until now, he never needed to make too much effort to get anything, all his problems were solved by his clan for him, he always felt like he was some carefree prince but now that very family was standing against him.
[What do I do, What do I do, what do i do] he kept on thinking while rubbing his head
Bhaskar wrapped his arm around Mukesh's neck and placed his middle finger just above his left eye with a gesture of warning.
"I will just say it one more time. Hand over Rajeev."
Raghav's brain wasn't in a condition where he could come up with some strategy, he just didn't wanted his father to be hurt anymore, he looked at Param and nodded, giving him a sign of agreement. To that, Param instantly released Rajeev.
He stood up and adjusted his tie with a smirk. Then he and Suraj walked unhurriedly to the other side, they were expressing how much control they have on this situation.
"There, I released him, you release papa now." Raghav said
To which Bhaskar replied
"Did you forgot what I just said, I have brought two gifts for you. Your dad or should I say your papa is the second one."
"What?!" Raghav was confused
Bhaskar pointed to the bag his brother Basu was carrying
"Don't tell me you didn't notice this big bag. Here, you can have this."
He took the bag in his hands and threw it towards Raghav.
"Stop, I am begging you." Mukesh said with a muffled voice, it was desperate and filled with agony but Bhaskar completely ignored him.
Bag reached Raghav's feet. It had a foul smell like that of a dead body.
[This smell, is-is there a dead body inside it] he couldn't help but feel more and more terrified.
All those men who were the members of Agar clan were just standing behind Bhaskar, they did changed their posture from time to time as if they were tired and just waiting for the whole thing to end but they never left the place. But right after Bhaskar threw that bag, all of them straightened and guarded up.
Param looked at Raghav
"Raghav, I have a really bad feeling about this, do not interact with it for now."
Raghav slowly turned his head towards him and stuttered
"Yeah, it's just that he mentioned two gifts and one of them was papa, so the other one could be-" his terror was showing in his shaking eyes and his voice kept breaking through the end until Param interrupted him
"No, calm down ok, let's focus on saving your dad first, alright." he said with a gentle voice and slowly approached to Raghav's side.
He placed his hand on his shoulder with a gentle stroke but Raghav slapped it away with a yell,
"But I don't know how to do that either, I couldn't even deal with Suraj alone, how can I even with you and Amayra here."
Tears flowed down his eyes,
"I don't even care anymore, I will just open the bag if they want me to, at least that would end this whole thing."
He instantly dropped down to his knees and grabbed the bag but then Amayra pointed out something.
"Wait, didn't you notice something odd."
"What?" Param asked
"Their only target was Raghav and they didn't expected us to be here with him. That means they only needed to defeat him."
Param was starting to understand what she was getting at so he continued
"So, knowing Raghav's strength, all of them didn't need to come here, only one or two could achieve this. But they are cautious enough to maintain a distance, they even kept a hostage and threw the bag from afar. All of this leads to one point, there is something that they are extremely afraid or wary of."
Amayra smiled
"Yeah and if it's not us. Then it is something about Raghav."
She moved her gaze towards him.
"They are actually scared of you, we are the ones who have dominance here."
Surprisingly, Raghav who should have had a glimmer of hope on it's face, had an even more depressed expression.
"You got it all wrong, throughout the history of our clan, all members receive elemental magic as their blessing except the clan head, my dad received the power to change the properties of matter and then i received to absorb and create it. Because of this clan head always had a significant dominance in terms of power. They must have ganged up on papa to defeat him and now their next target is me."
Param disagreed with him
"I think that's not the case, Suraj fought you alone beforehand and almost killed you, then there was Rajeev and then all of them at last. It seems like they are following a particular pattern."
"And?" Raghav asked
"What and?"
"Does knowing that help us in any way? I just know that we three cannot do anything here and if I do not do what they want, they might kill papa."
Finished saying that, Raghav waited no longer and zipped on the black bag.
As soon as it was opened, Raghav's whole body was frozen like a still statue, his eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing, his blue pupils were shaking and his cornea was covered in deep red lines. His mouth was half open but no words could come out from his throat.
After about 10 seconds, he slowly moved both his hands and put them into the bag, they came out shaking with something grabbed between them.
The thing was a head, a human head, it was covered in red blood and the eyes were still open. Raghav had already recognized the owner of this head as he mumbled in a staggering voice
"M-mom"